Can we see it from the other direction please? How many stairs are below it as a high drop would be a safety issue.

Sure! So it’s about a 3ft drop or so. There are 5 stairs next to it.

I would add a wine rack and store bottles of wine there.

some kind of bookcase and seat? would be a good place for cookbooks.

An indoor herb garden?

Home office.

I would have put your christmas tree there!! Make it a nice place for a lovely big artificial plant and some nice big ornaments. Its calling for a trip to Homesense!

hi Adam. I would personally put a big urn type vase there with some gorg flowers.. these could either be artificial ones with silk leaves (which do save money in the long run but are a hassle to dust) or real fresh flowers. lovely way to brighten the area and create somewhere for people to comment on

you don't really want to 'junk' the area up with things that will look messy. you want to keep those items shut behind doors. it will create a more contemporary look which will really bring out that lovely paneling you have

Custom made cabinet instead of the balustrade

Custom Cabinet Glass · More Info

Or a fish tank

Suspended Aquarium in Entry · More Info

fish tank definnttelyyyy 🤩

Design rule:

Never look at any small space in a room as separate to that space. Design that area into the room. The idea of bringing that area level to top level is ideal. If it cannot 'loadbear' play around with ideas to still do that, but keep weight low. Keep any addition of 'pattern' or proportions to bare minimum and connect that to the greater area. Any single item put there, eg urn will look random, we wd call them 'plonkers', put there because the designer couldnt think what to do with a space. 'Plonked' there. Remember plantpots atop manhole covers on folks' front lawns? The thing put there to cover the manhole cover up, drew your eye to a plonked item. Replace banisters with something to your taste. Do not make yr banisters a curly eye catching feature. You could clad them, or go to reclamation yard, or research banister options.

Build the box up so that the built up bit is storage for you with a drawer or cupboard door and take the railing back to the edge of it so that your landing has more space which could be functional.

cam you move the stairs so they replace this boxed area, then make the hallway less wide and gain more space in the rooms off the hallway? Or is that too big/difficult a job?

If you literally just want to fill the space, and you don’t need it, I’d mirror what King Bing said. A trip to Home

sense and buy an eye catching ornament or a plant. If you want to utilise the space then I’d extend it to be level with the floor and extend the banister around i as someone else suggested, but this looks more difficult to match as you have really nice panelling on the wall which will just stop and look like you’ve extended the floor. I would definitely think hard about how you want to use the space as you could be in danger of spending time and money on something that ultimately becomes a new dumping ground as it’s convenient. Sorry not much help, more of a warning.

I would have a selection of plants at different heights to fill the space, making sure they can withstanding the lack of sunlight, such as aspidistras and ferns. It would look on trend, and a bit botanical.

Make it a reading corner